This invention relates to still cameras, and while some aspects of the invention have a more general application, it is most useful in pocket-sized cameras designed to receive 110 sized film cartridges which heretofore have had a very narrow elongated profile. All of such prior art cameras on the market have housings with a very short vertical dimension, where the cartridge-receiving compartments exposable at the rear of the camera housing spans substantially the entire vertical interior dimension of the housing. The viewfinder section of the camera, which also occupies substantially the entire vertical dimension of the camera, is located beyond one end of the film cartridge-receiving compartment. When a built-in electronic flash lamp is incorporated in the camera, the flash lamp and battery compartment is generally positioned adjacent to the opposite end of the cartridge-receiving compartment where it substantially increases the camera length in a horizontal direction parallel to the front wall of the camera, so that the camera becomes quite bulky and uncomfortable to hold in a pocket of the user's clothing.
The length of such a camera has been materially reduced by the camera construction shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,032,940, granted June 28, 1977. This camera has a housing constructed in two relatively horizontally telescoping sections. One of the camera sections is a main housing section including substantially all of the components of a still camera except for the viewfinder portion thereof. The other section of the camera has a housing which interfits with the housing of the main camera sections so in its retracted position the front and rear viewfinding lens elements thereof interleave with elements of the main camera housing. When the viewfinder section is in its extended position, the front and rear viewfinder lens elements are unobstructed. In the retracted position of the viewfinder section, a part thereof covers the objective lens and shutter release member in the main section of the camera, and wall elements of the main camera section cover over the viewfinder lens elements. The movable viewfinder carrying section is provided with means for cocking the shutter operating mechanism of the camera and removing a film perforation sensing finger as it is moved to its retracted position and means for effecting a film advancing operation when the viewfinder section is moved to its extended position.
While the camera disclosed in this patent is adapted to receive a flash cube in the top wall thereof, a similar retractable camera is being marketed where an electronic built-in flash lamp is provided by extending the length of the main camera section and placing the built-in electronic flash lamp, battery compartment and energizing circuits therefor in such housing extension. In such case, the fixed distance between the flash lamp and the objective lens must be sufficiently great to prevent "pink-eye" effects where the eyes of persons in close-up shots become unnaturally pink. As is conventional in cameras with built-in electronic flash lamps, the energizing circuits for such lamps generally includes a capacitor with a charge circuit therefor which maintains the capacitor in a charged condition when a flash on-off switch is positioned in its "on" position. The battery used in such cameras for charging the capacitor is undesirably slowly discharged when the flash on-off switch is inadvertently left in its "on" condition when the camera is not in use.
One of the objects of the invention is to provide a unique camera construction, most preferably one for receiving 110 film cartriges, which includes a built-in electronic flash lamp, and wherein the length of the camera is materially reduced even from that found in said retractable cameras with a built-in electronic flash lamp, so that the camera fits more easily in the user's pocket, handbag or other storage area of limited size. A related object of the invention is to provide a camera as described which has relatively retractable and extendable camera housing sections with a unique arrangement and relationship of the parts thereof to obtain such a reduced length. A further object of the invention is to provide a camera with a built-in electronic flash lamp, and having relatively retractable and extendable sections thereof, and wherein means are provided for minimizing the aforesaid undesired discharge of the flash lamp circuit charging battery when the user inadvertently leaves the flash on-off switch in its "on" position.